DIY Water Blob: Tutorial

A few weeks ago I saw this idea for water blobs floating around online and decided to try it ourselves the next time we were having friends over to play. Then I decided to share with you guys how to make a water blob which is a great water activity for kids (and adults) in the summer.

Can I just say that this “water blob” was amazing amounts of fun. I layed on it, the kids jumped on it, slid across it and spent the entire day doing all sorts of crazy acrobatics. We loved it so much that I almost can’t wait to do another one. And the next one will have glitter in it… tons of glitter.

So what is a “water blob” and how do you make one? Simple. A water blog is a large piece of plastic sheeting (a clear thin tarp) that is folded in half with the three open sides taped shut and then filled with water. When it is done it makes a cool dry play surface. It’s the perfect activity for hot summer days for all ages, especially the toddler years since it is safe, however my older girls played with it for hours. Later in the day we did turn on a sprinkler on top of the blob which then made it like a fluffy slip and slide.

Fold the plastic sheeting in half and tape the three open sides with duct tape (it helps to have assistance) but leave open a small hole for the water hose. I also added some bright blue food coloring just for that wow factor. Next time we’re going to add glitter but you could also add confetti or small gummy items like worms or fish for a theme party. Just make sure the items are very soft with no pointy edges.

Put the water hose in it and let it fill. (The chair was holding the hose for me). When it’s totally full, tape the small opening shut and let the kids loose.

The blue food dye will fade the longer the blob sits in the sun. By 2pm our blue food coloring was totally gone but the kids didn’t care and it was a great way to teach them about the power of the sun.

Finally around 2pm the top got a very small hole that the kids picked at until they had a small puddle to play in. I could have fixed it with tape but it was time to get cleaned up and finish our play time so I just let them play with it until most of the water had drained. It held up really well.

Edited to Add: You MUST use heavy plastic sheeting. This is not a plastic drop cloth, it is thicker, usually 4mm thick. A drop cloth is 1-2 mm thick and will puncture in minutes. Also it will roll if not on a very flat surface.

I tried this, but it definitely didn’t work. Taping together the sides was very difficult, and I ended up just crimping the two pieces together with tape because it kept getting wrinkled. And when I put the water in, there were huge gaping holes and it kind of just splashed right out. Now, I can use it as a slip and slide though! 🙂

Sorry it didn’t work. I found it works best if I lay it flat, put half of the tape along one side with a large edge of tape hanging over the edge and then go back and just fold the tape over the edge. Does that make sense?

I did lay down on it for as long as my kids would let me and it was very cool. It would be the perfect spot to read. It’s the answer to Kindles and reading on a raft since that’s not very safe to do with electronics!

I did this a few weeks ago and when I was filling it up the bag kept moving on me, slowly rolling downhill as more water was added. I thought I was on a fairly level surface, but I guess not. The kids did have a good time on it until it got alot of holes in it. Might have to use thicker plastic next time.

I had the same thing happen while I was filling so we just moved it to an even flatter area of the yard. One side pretty much stayed fuller with water than the other due to the yard but the kids still loved it.

Dianne is right. My grass was fine since I removed it the same day. If you leave it longer than that it will mess up your grass or if you have brand new baby grass, I would probably hold off or just empty the bag right onto the grass. I tried to dump as much as the water as I could into flower beds.

I can’t believe how easy this looks – saw it on Pinterest and can’t wait to try it with my 2 toddlers. I often wonder when I see these things – who on earth thought to do this in the first place? It NEVER would have occurred to me that this was even possible! Thanks so much!

We did this today and it was a hit with our 2 year old and her friends! It was a little tricky getting the tape right and we had a few leaks at first. My husband ended up taping the house into the corner of the bag so we could refill as necessary and we put the sprinkler next to it so it would be slippery. Near the end of the day, we put her kiddie slide on the edge near the sprinkler and they had a great time sliding through the sprinkler on to the “pillow”. 🙂 Thanks for the great idea!

Seems like you could probably do this with an old air mattress (maybe one that will not hold air for the entire night, or from the thrift store). It would likely be more strudy,but would not be see through. Just a thought. I was trying to think of a way to do this with stuff I already have.
Thanks for the idea.

I used to try and do this when I was a kid with lawn bags. Only they never worked for long. I obviously wasn’t using the right kind of tape 🙂 Also, the lawn bags weren’t thick enough plastic. Man, I was soooo close!

When I was a kid (back in the 70s) my dad got an old king-sized waterbed mattress at a garage sale – the kind that was not waveless – just a giant thick plastic mattress. He filled it with water and added green food coloring so it would kind of blend in with the yard. We LOVED it. Used it all summer long. If you jumped on one side it would make waves. It also always stayed cool and we had camp outs on it at night. It was fun to see your post with a similar idea!

I just matched up the seams and taped. I tried rolling one side and it made a bigger mess than what it was worth. The sad news is that it does not kill weeds. I can send you photo proof of my backyard if you wish.

This seems to be a great idea and free too. Quite a few people have moaned and groaned on here, get a life. Wow! Bet they are the ones that griped and hollered at the kids and then picked it up, scrunched it up and flung it into the trash.

I haven’t tried it out yet but, going from the directions that the OP put, Using a 4mm waterproof tarp I would fold the edges over a couple of times just to reinforce them and then tape. Find the most level ground that you have in your yard. Fill to desired amount but not overly so, ie about an inch deep. Then chill. After a while, turn the hose onto the upper surface, add some bubbles and let the kids go. I can’t see any problems occurring with this version apart from uptight parents. You gotta cut loose.

I don’t think it would really last for a few days unless you used really heavy duty plastic and a different way to seal the ends. But I do know that in the 70’s people did this with old waterbed mattresses. You could try that to get it to hold up for a long time and if no one is actually in the water than it’ll be ok if bacteria grows as long as you dispose of the water in a smart manner.

Found you on Pinterest.. What did I ever do before Pinterest? haha
Thanks for sharing this idea you found. I am going to try this very soon. Even my older kids are going to love this. Our yard seems to attract the neighbor kids… now there are going to be even more haha

We tried this today, and I learned something…make sure that when you cut your children’s toenails that there are no sharp edges — my son somehow jumped on it and the corner of his big toe popped a hole right in the top.
So, back to Lowes we went, and we’ll do it again tomorrow. :o)
Thanks for sharing such a fun idea!

I did not try glitter yet, I just wanted to. Someone else did and said that it wasn’t really that noticeable or worth it. That was just their thoughts and you can find their link above in the comments. As far as the plastic goes you could always cut off the tape, let the plastic dry and then store it to use in a thousand different ways or to reuse for this project again. I think that having a nice sheet of plastic stored in the garage is always a great idea for emergencies such as a busted windshield in the rain or rain collection during a really bad drought such as the one we had this past year here in Texas. Just my thoughts. I hope that helped.

I haven’t tried this yet, but I am wondering if you could just snip a corner to drain it, and then put the hose back into that corner to use it again? Just re tape the hole? There could be a lot of patches if you just keep reusing it! The only problem might be getting it to dry good enough before the mold grows….I do like your other ideas to re use the plastic though. I have reused my painting plastic many times….

We have done this in the past, and in order to save it, we simply cut down one side with a sharp x-acto knife, slicing as close to the taped edge as possible. Turned the plastic inside out and hung it over the clothesline to dry. After it was dry, we folded it, then slipped it inside an old pillow case to store in the garage (we didn’t want the plastic to get dirty and dusty, plus it helped to protect it) Hope this helps.

This looks like a lot of fun and reminds me of something we did at one of the preschools I worked at using shower curtain liners and a cooked goo of corn starch. I wish I could remember the recipe, it was totally cool and the kiddos loved it! Now I’m thinking I want to make one for me and not share. Thank you for sharing!

This is such a great idea. I’ve been looking for this tutorial for a while. Do you use just regular duct tape? My husband didn’t believe me when I told him it would hold the water. I can’t wait to try it out though, my kids are going to love it.

Not only did this not work it was an epic failure! But the plastic got turned into a big slip and slide so the kids are still happy going to try thicker plastic duct tape on both sides next time. also I am going to have to wait for a less breezy day.

We did this today and it turned out great! I held the edges together as my husband taped it. When it started to roll, we simply put a few 2×4’s stacked up to stop it. After it was full we removed the temporary wall. The taping was easy with two people and we added crayons washable finger paint as well as fishing worms. I hope these tips help the people that did not have success as we found it to work well for us! So much fun!!!

I had a thought about the glitter…perhaps edible glitter might give it some sparkle that will eventually break down? Don’t know how costly it is, but since it is edible it should break down or dissolve at some point in your yard.

Also you could use the plastic that goes on top of a dinning room table.They are at walmart or fabric stores and you can get it cut to what ever size you like and they have different thicknesses. I have used it to make a fence template to trace on to a wall.I 5hink I am going to make a small one for the ba y I watch one for inside the house but I think I will glue it together, maybe caulk or some kind of glue that works on plastic. The fun thing about shower curtains though is you can get different designs. I think a sea look or fish, or ducks would be so cute . Good luck such a fun idea!

I just thought of this, maybe it could work better as opposed to tape.

I had discovered a craft where you could fuse plastic bags to make a thicker plastic to make something else with an iron and wax paper. What if you fused the edges of the plastic and then just tape the hole where the water needs to go? It would take a bit longer to finish, but if it holds the plastic together better… Worth a shot, yes?

Funny that I just saw this on Pinterest after we did this this morning. I was VERY surprised by how much the children enjoyed it. I must say that 4 mil plastic and heavy duty, reinforced duct tape is needed if you want it to last. We used a combination of blue and green food coloring for a nice aqua color. I always have the plastic around to use as drop cloths for art projects, high chair mats, etc. The 4 mil won’t get damaged easily, and is still usable even if it does. It may get a hole in it, but it won’t tear. Just patch the holes. We lined up the edges and folded over twice before taping, then added an additional tape line, overlapping the first by about a 1/2 inch. It made for a very secure seam. If you add a bit of bleach to the water, once you drain it bacteria won’t collect so it can be stored and ready for re-use another day without getting disgusting. On an aside…I link back to all original sources, but I do agree, often I’ve been doing something for years that people are suddenly saying is their original idea. I know of one idea I put out there relatively first, and it’s been wonderful to see how many different directions other people have taken it. This is my first time visiting, glad I found you!

I just tried this with a 4, 7, 8 and 11 year old, and they had a blast even though it leaked like a sieve and quickly developed lots of big rips. I could never get the tape water-tight, and even though I used the thicker plastic, once the kids started using it as a slip-n-slide it didn’t hold up. Still a lot of fun, though, for a couple of hours.

I tried this today with my nieces and nephew [the girls are 2 and 4 and the boy is 9] We had a blast! I wish I had read more carefully and paid attention to the age/size of the children on the blob here on CC. the very large 9 year old was too rough and ended up tearing quite a few holes after about an hour and a half. My suggestion would be to go for the heavy-duty [though less see-through] plastic if you have older kids playing on it. The younger kids barely had any negative affect on it. We used heavy duty tape [the 55 yard roll]. the first time we just did a line and folded it over to make a seam, then went around all the way on the top part, and all the way on the bottom part to reinforce. We had maybe 3 edge leaks once it was full – it was highly effective. We did put glitter in it – it looked very cool, but once it popped and the water got out, the glitter was EVERYWHERE, I’m pretty sure I’ll be finding it for weeks in certain places.

Thank you for this wonderful post [Found it via stumble upon last week], We’ll be trying this again later in the summer with the listed variations!

We did this today and it is our “Super Mega Awesome Summer Project”! The only thing I would do differently next time I try it (and I will definitely do it again!) is that I will get it all taped up the night before instead of letting the kids “help” me tape it. Everywhere I had let the tape wrinkle it leaked, but I just added more tape. This is a fantastic (and cheap!) summer project, thank you for sharing it!

Did this earlier today for the fourth of July. Our six grandkids loved it. It was perfect, no leaks and even my 22 year old son was on it. We made one about 16′ by 10′ and it’s still in the yard waiting for me to empty it. Definitely something we will repeat. Thanks for another great idea.

A friend of mine has done this twice, and she said the best tape to use is the stuff used for foam boards (used in house construction). You can find it at Lowes. It was the stickiest and held together best, but it is pricey (around $12 a roll).

THANK YOU for this tutorial!! (I just linked to it on a recent blog because i love it so much)
We tried it this year for our July 4th cookout, and it IS a kid-pleaser! (kids of ALL ages!)
But ours had tons, and I mean TONS of leaks! Do you have any extra tips/suggestions about the duct taping process?

My in-laws did this for the kids over 4th of July (mother-in-law found it on pinterest & I found you from a design mom post link!) and our kids loved it. We thought it looked like a giant jell-o mattress, which was especially exciting for my Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs fan-girl daughter! It did get puckered from little footprints rather quickly (maybe it was too full?) but lasted for hours. We’ll try it again, with thicker sheeting and more tape next time.
The kids bounced, ran, and rolled around on it, while their Dadu (grandpa) sprinkled them with the hose. We considered adding baby soap to the surface but didn’t end up doing that. It was fun enough with the hose.

This was a fail for me aswell. 🙁 Giant holes as soon as my 5 year old stepped onto it.. there was no jumping or anything, just a big holly mess lol they had fun splashing in the water until it completely drained out. I was soo excited about this to. Is there a stronger liner i can use? i just bought the painters drop clothe plastic at walmart? Is there a better option that doesnt pop asap? How did your children jump on it without it popping?

I am wondering if you can seal it by ironing the sides? Not using the iron directly on the plastic of course but maybe putting wax paper over it while ironing? My mother and I used to make little pouches doing that. Worth a try maybe? I can’t wait to try this. And I love the sparkle idea!

We did this for the kids and it worked great!. Like you mentioned, there were a few leaks along the edges. We used red cool-aid in it. I would suggest getting as thick a piece of plastic as possible because when the children would stand on it or apply to much pressure to one area, we would get holes. Overall, great idea and great fun!!

My daughter and her friend, who are in elementary school, did this and had a great time. We didn’t use duck/duct tape, but a kind that is made especially for plastic and it worked perfectly. It did take some time to tape the sides, but once that was done, it was all fun for about 2 hours. When a leak would spring, they would just add more tape. It was a fun and cool way to spend a hot summer afternoon.

I did this yesterday for me two boys (19 months and 3 1/2) and it was relatively easy to set up (took about 30 minutes for me by myself to tape it together) and I did have the problem with the ground perhaps not being level so had to adjust it a bit. My kids had a blast. . . for the literally 3 minutes before it sprung a major geyser sized leak. I am not sure what your tricks are but a thicker plastic may be the way to go. It was fun (and cheap) though while it lasted.

I just made this for my son who has cancer and isn’t allowed to go to the pool. He had a great time cooling off and playing around with “the BLOG”. And he’s 12… I thought it might be too young for him but it wasn’t! We had leaks too, but that was part of the fun. Thanks for the great idea.

And this artist says it’s all about proportion! Forget glitter, think CONFETTI! Bonus: I bet we’ll be able to use the kitchen collinder (sp?) to catch it while it drains for reuse. Barring any complete fail, but that should pay for itself in entertainment and kodak moment value~

Do you know…I’ve used a crayola bath product that turns the bathwater colors. They are little tabs. Even my sensitive-bottomed little one had no issues.

Found your post from Pinterest. I’m very very very excited to try this! We’re doing a labyrinth movie themed birthday party for my 2 year old this september and i wanted something to do for the ‘Bog of Eternal Stench’. We thought about a wading pool with cornstarch and water goo, but i knew that would be REALLY messy.

Then i saw this and it’s perfect! I’m going to fill it and i think fill it with green water and maybe leaves (make it look bogish) and then paint stepping rocks across it for the kids to cross! I hope it’s a hit!

We tried this today. I folded the edges up and taped them from the top, not unlike how you wrap the ends of a gift, and it began leaking immediately. Still a great afternoon, but I thought it would hold for at least a few minutes. Should I have taped it without folding first, putting half of the tap on the bottom and folding it up and over?

Anyway, my sons had a blast and we’ll definitely be reusing the plastic tarp another day!

This project will be a bit pricier than I had anticipated, but hopefully will be worth it. I plan to get the 4 mm sheeting, heavy duty duct tape and then seal the edges by doing a “French seam” with duct tape. We’re having friends over, so this will be a treat for the little ones! Even if it does spring leaks, it will just be turned into a water slide.

We are going to try this next week for an end of the summer play date with friends before school starts back up! I am sooo excited and so are my girls. We have been looking forward to doing it since i pinned this idea on pinterest ages ago! I hope it turns out for us…I am not always great with duct tape! I am going to try and fill it with some red & blue food coloring…to make purple and some random containers of glitter have hanging around. I will try to link back to your when I blog about how it went next week and share some of our fun pictures!

This looks like something that would be really fun to do with the kids. We seem to have an endless supply of Visqueen in our house (I really don’t know why,) and that’s heavier and more durable than plastic sheets.

Has anyone tried using extra large pool floats or those mattress storage protectors? Or am I the only lazy one that wants to avoid as much taping as possible? 🙂 I plan to do this next week for my daughter’s first birthday party! Just trying to figure out the easiest way.

Found your post in Pinterest & made this a few weeks ago for a toddler group ~ SO MUCH FUN!! It had some leaks pretty quickly after filling up, but nothing that made the water gush out. So we had a wet blob instead of a dry one! Which was great on a hot day. Even the moms got in on the fun ~ and ended up having more fun than the toddlers! I just finishing taping up my 2nd blob for tomorrow’s toddler get-together! Thanks so much for posting this fun activity!!

Wish we had known this for our church’s water olympics! But instead we used a large blue tarp, fastened down the ends, set a water sprinkler on the side and squeezed some dishwashing liquid over the wet surface. It was a slippery, soapy mess but the kids had great fun! A caution: Kids who have any sort of spinal issue should never do this activity!

I know we are getting ready for thanksgiving and I can’t wait to try this!!! I was wondering about other methods of binding the plastic other than tape. Isn’t there some kind of glue that “melts” the plastic so that it bonds wih itself?

Yes. But I can’t tell you what kind. It depends on what kind of plastic you have. My son is a materials engineer. If you want to ask an expert, see if you can make a phone call to the materials engineering department of an engineering university, such as the one at Rolla, Missouri, the Missouri School of Science and Technology (formerly known as the University of Missouri at Rolla). Engineers LOVE to solve problems, and I bet a group of students could not only give you a short, quick answer, but they might “run with the idea” and come up with a dozens ideas on improving the original design to resolve others issues as well. And have a lot of “fun” doing so!

My husband did this for our son’s 8th birthday, as we had families coming with small children. It worked great! We found 6 mil plastic sheeting, and gorilla glue duct tape at Walmart. Hubby did the initial measuring, cutting, and taping inside the house, which I think greatly facilitated the project. Also, we were careful to have it on a flat surface.

I did this last summer (after reading your post) when my daughter was 1. She really enjoyed it then, but I think she’ll like it even better this year. She’s a lot more rambunctious now. 🙂 Also, last year I used a contractor clean up bag–which is sort of like a really big, really thick garbage bag–it was small and manageable and lots of fun. I think I might go for something bigger and see through this year. 🙂

I love your idea and would love to share it on Yoplait’s Facebook page–we’re all about highlighting fun summer activities at the moment and this is certainly one! Would you mind if we posted one of your photos and a link to your blog?

I just did this today for my grandchildren. I used the 6mil because the kids are grade school age and I thought they’d be tougher on the plastic. I used the gorilla tape with double adhesive. It all worked great! There were a few leaks that were easily sealed with more tape.

I did this today for my little sister and her two friends. Luckily we happened to have 4mil plastic sheeting and duct tape on hand! It was a fairly easy project. I left them in the sprinkler while I taped up the plastic, threaded in the hose, and left them to it.
All three agreed they like it better than any Slip ‘n Slide, and I can’t stop “ruining their fun” by joining in. Ha!. Thanks so much for this, it’s definitely going to be a summer staple around here from now on.

My grass was fine since I removed it the same day. If you leave it longer than that it will mess up your grass or if you have brand new baby grass, I would probably hold off or just empty the bag right onto the grass. I tried to dump as much as the water as I could into flower beds.

Luckily we happened to have 4mil plastic sheeting and duct tape on hand! It was a fairly easy project. I left them in the sprinkler while I taped up the plastic, threaded in the hose, and left them to it.

Love this idea, and really appreciate the advice to recycle the plastic at the end of the day. On the other hand, please don’t put confetti in. The tiny plastic particles seem harmless, but they end up in the ground, and become part of the food chain, starting with earthworms. Here is a link to an article from the BBC to get you started on understanding this problem. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6218698.stm

I am having a pirate birthday party for my son and we are making a “walk the plank” game. This will be PERFECT for the water below the plank! They can also jump on it after the game is over! Super excited to try this out!

If you read the post there’s ways to make it more eco friendly. It doesn’t mean you have to put glitter in it but you can siphon the water out to your flower beds or garden and reuse the plastic sheeting. It’s not disposable unless you make it that way. Thanks!

Please don’t do this project unless you are going to recycle the plastic sheeting after use. Also, DO NOT use glitter or other toxic materials inside as it will end up making your yard toxic to the soil and tiny creatures that live in the dirt. Hopefully your grass and yard are not treated with chemicals. Thank you.

I just tried this and it does work surprisingly well. I only did a very small one since I didn’t have a lot of plastic and I was a bit skeptical of this actually working. I have a 3 year old and had him test it out and it stood up to him jumping hard on it. I will be getting the stuff and making one that is bigger. Thanks!

I just saw on another website a great alternative to taping all of the sides and it seems like it will help fight off leaks. This lady ironed her sides together to melt the plastic together. Here is the link. http://www.homemadetoast.com/?s=water+blob

You need a VERY flat level yard for this. I love this and it worked but my yard that looks level is apparently sloped just enough to make the entire thing roll all the way to the fence (which was pretty funny). We were able to grab it and weight it down with some yard toys etc… but it wasn’t the same as if the yard were nice and flat. Taping together definitely requires time and patience but it works. My kids and their friends had fun even though it didn’t work as planned. We ended up putting it at the bottom of a Step 2 Play structure (it wrapped around both sides due to the (very gentle) slope of my yard so we put a hose at the top of the slide and had them slide down onto it. Lots of fun all around 🙂

I have read that you can use some parchment paper and a hair straightener to heat seal the edges. To make it extra strong I would also use the duct tape. I’m planning on trying this soon I’ll let you know if it works. 🙂

I actually used my soldering iron and some parchment paper to “weld” the edges closed. Then I used a little quick-drying epoxy to close off the hose hole. It lasted ALL DAY without any leaking, although I did warn the kids that being rough with it would wear it out faster. End of the day I just put a small slit in one of the edges so I could refill it again. It didn’t survive the second use, but the kids loved it all the same!

Looks like a great idea.
Since i doubt my yard is flat enough, after reading several comments about it rolling, i am thinking that perhaps making a tape ‘loop’ at one corner and securing at the swing set or picnic table or porch post might perhaps be a secure option.
i can’t wait to see my grandson enjoy this!!

I have something embarrassing to tell you, my friends. (Deep breaths)… I know this is a judgment free zone (because yall forgive me for having the world’s worst looking hot glue gun).. so here it goes….. My front door is naked. Naked. It’s bad enough that the previous owners painted it a very unfortunate shade […]

Welcome my wild friends! I know you’re somewhat wild because if you’re reading this post right now, chances are that you’re helping with vacation bible school this year. VBS is one of my favorite things each year but let’s be honest, I also have to come home each day afterward and take a nap – […]